Stress relief dogs help students ease into finals week

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With finals week quickly approaching, students found a way to destress last Thursday afternoon by getting to play with puppies in the Naugle hall MPR.

Events like these are held every other week of the semester. The dogs are pets of students, faculty, and staff members. They are not necessarily therapy dogs but just ones that are sweet and like to play.

Bella, who was the dog that was brought this week, is a mutt and was constantly running around the room. She was jumping on the students who were lounging in the bean bag chairs and begging for attention.

There was pizza and soda provided for the students as well as adult coloring pages. With quiet music playing in the background, many of the students were happy to have a few minutes to keep their mind off their dreaded finals which are soon ahead.

Junior Melissa Langdon enjoyed her first time with the stress dog. Langdon said, “I had been really stressed about school and all of my classwork but this helped totally take my mind off that for a few minutes and helped me to relax.”

Denise Yarwood, who in charge of the event, originally started hosting it to cater to students who were homesick. She wanted students to have a place to go where they would be able to feel like they had a piece of home here with them at Ship.

Yarwood found that one of the things that students missed the most about home was their pets. “I wanted to create an all-inclusive place where students felt it was a safe space for them,” she said.

The event has turned into a biweekly thing where students can come just to hangout and take their mind off schoolwork for even a half hour.